Monica Reyes
Reyes redirects here. For other uses of the name Reyes, see Reyes (disambiguation). Monica Reyes (played by Annabeth Gish) was an FBI Special Agent who was assigned to the X-Files alongside Agents John Doggett and Dana Scully. (TXF: "Empedocles", "Existence") She was previously assigned to the New Orleans Bureau Office. (TXF: "This is Not Happening") Childhood Monica Reyes was born and raised in Mexico. She consequently learned to speak fluent Spanish. (TXF: "John Doe") :It is never specified when Reyes was born, although the birthdate of actress Annabeth Gish is March 13, 1971. Monica was interested in numerology as a child and asked several people numerological questions about themselves when she was young. Her interest in numerology would stay with her through her teenage and adult years. In 2002, she admitted that she would still ask people their birthdate when she met them at a party and that the question was "kind of an icebreaker". (TXF: "Improbable") Education and Early Career In university, Reyes earned a Master of Arts degree in Religious Studies. (TXF: "This is Not Happening") She joined the FBI prior to 1993 and eventually became a Special Agent. (TXF: "This is Not Happening", "Empedocles") She was stationed in New York, where she worked with an agent named Brad Follmer. (TXF: "Empedocles", "Nothing Important Happened Today") 's deceased body.]] In 1993, Reyes was assigned as the lead investigator in the search for John Doggett's missing son, Luke. (TXF: "Release", "Empedocles") After three days of searching, the child's body was found lying face down in a remote park area. (TXF: "This is Not Happening", "Empedocles") Reyes was present when the body was found and had a vision as if the corpse had momentarily changed into ashes. She was unable to explain the vision, although she considered the possibility that it may have been a psychic experience. Although it was determined that Luke Doggett had been strangled to death, neither Reyes nor any of the other law enforcement officers involved in the case managed to catch the killer. In 2001, Reyes commented that searching for the child was the hardest case she had ever had, "as in stealing-into-the-bathroom-to-cry-my-eyes-out kind of hard". (TXF: "Empedocles") :Though the "date of last contact" with Luke Doggett is given in "Empedocles" as 8/12/97 (or August 12, 1997), it is well established that his father, John Doggett, was still working in the New York Police Department when Luke's body was discovered. "Within" gives 1995 as the year that John Doggett left the police force, providing evidence that the "date of last contact" given in "Empedocles" is probably incorrect. Another date for Luke's death was later provided in "Release" - August 13, 1993 - and this seems more likely than the date given in "Empedocles". Reyes was later assigned to the New Orleans field office, where she specialized in ritualistic crime. (TXF: "This is Not Happening") She investigated hundreds of claims of satanic ritualistic abuse but never found anything to support evidence of genuine satanic activity. (TXF: "Daemonicus") Nevertheless, she remained open to the theory that the corruption existed. She believed that there were spiritual energies in the universe and that she was sensitive to them, but other agents stationed in New Orleans did not share her ideas. (TXF: "This is Not Happening") Reyes once worked a case in New Orleans with Special Agent Robert Comer. She perceived him to be a "company man, straight as a ruler". (TXF: "Provenance") .]] In 2001, Reyes was contacted by John Doggett, who had also become an FBI agent since 1993 and needed her help on a case he was working on involving the disappearances of several believers in the alien abduction phenomenon. Reyes suspected the believers had formed a like-minded group, uniting in their belief in UFOs to make an attempt at transporting aboard a gigantic mother ship, much like the Heaven's Gate UFO religion had done, but she also considered the possibility that members of the group had actually been abducted by extraterrestrials. One night in Helena, Montana, Reyes was amazed to see a bright light traveling across the sky and recovered the deceased body of Gary Cory, one of the missing believers. She was later instrumental in leading the investigation to a nearby farm compound, where formerly missing believers Theresa Hoese and Special Agent Fox Mulder were discovered, although the latter was found dead. During this investigation, Reyes met and worked with Assistant Director Walter Skinner and Special Agent Dana Scully. (TXF: "This is Not Happening") Once Reyes returned to working on cases in New Orleans, Detective Frank Potter requested her help on investigating two killings that he believed had been satanic ritual murders. Reyes initially suspected that being fired by his employers had motivated the killer, Jeb Dukes, to shoot them and that the murders had not involved satanic activity. However, after seeing a vision of one of the victims' bodies turn to ash, Reyes became convinced that the case was somehow related to the search for Luke Doggett and the vision she had experienced at the end of that search, possibly leading her to the capture of Luke Doggett's killer. She tried to determine the connection between the two cases with help from Agent Mulder, who had been revived since the discovery of his deceased body, and a cynical Doggett. When Jeb Dukes took his young cousin, Mia, hostage, Reyes managed to shoot Dukes without wounding Mia. Reyes suspected that the only reason she had seen the latest of her two visions may have been to save Mia. She was present when Jeb Dukes died shortly thereafter in Washington Memorial Hospital and was attacked in the same room by his angered sister, Katha. Though Reyes had told Doggett to go home, believing there was nothing more he could do to find his son's killer, Doggett ultimately saved her and subdued her attacker. Reyes returned to the belief that there was a thread of evil at work that she now thought would be ever-present and had passed to Katha Dukes. (TXF: "Empedocles") Reyes was later called upon to help a pregnant Scully escape Billy Miles, an alien super-soldier who was a threat to both Agent Scully and her unborn child. (TXF: "Essence") After flying to Washington, D.C., Reyes drove Scully from the FBI's headquarters to Doggett's hometown of Democrat Hot Springs, Georgia. (TXF: "Essence", "Existence") She used her instincts to select the building in which Scully would deliver her baby and saw another bright light in the sky shining above the location. Although she managed to prepare the building for the baby's delivery, she was unable to prevent a large group of super-soldiers, including the one disguised as Billy Miles and another as a local game warden, from finding the location and watching Scully give birth. Once the child was born, the aliens left as Mulder arrived in search of Scully. Directed by Reyes, Mulder found Scully and took her to a hospital. (TXF: "Existence") Work on the X-Files Following her role in the delivery of Scully's son, William, Monica Reyes was assigned to the X-Files by Agent Doggett, who assumed that right as he was investigating his superior in the FBI, Deputy Director Alvin Kersh, for his dealings with the alien super-soldiers. (TXF: "Existence") Reyes was highly excited to be appointed an office in Washington, D.C. and to begin investigating the X-Files - her dream assignment. (TXF: "Nothing Important Happened Today") Prior to her new assignment, she had previously visited Gdansk, Poland, and had learned some Latin. (TXF: "4-D", "Dæmonicus") :It is unclear when Monica visited Gdansk or learned Latin. It is also not specified whether she learned more Latin words than just "daemonicus" and "medicus" - words that, in the episode "Dæmonicus", she translates as "Satan" or "demon possession", and "physician". Two days after being assigned to the X-Files, Monica visited Assistant Director Brad Follmer in his office at the FBI's headquarters. AD Follmer provided her with proof that all evidence of Doggett's claim of a chase, crash and fire that had reportedly occurred in the parking garage of the FBI's headquarters had apparently been removed during the weekend, the previous two days in which Reyes and Doggett had not been at work. Reyes later discovered that Mulder, who had also witnessed the chase, crash and fire, was missing without explanation. When AD Skinner warned that he would not continue to support Doggett if he did not drop his investigation of Deputy Director Kersh, Reyes feared that, if Doggett complied with Skinner's wishes, the FBI might close the X-Files and that she could be reassigned to the New Orleans Bureau Office. Reyes saw a person's shadow pass the X-Files office and found that the anonymous source had left a newspaper clipping detailing the death of Carl Wormus. Additionally, she later first met the Lone Gunmen.(TXF: "Nothing Important Happened Today") At a meeting with Assistant Directors Follmer and Skinner, Reyes was encouraged by AD Follmer to distance herself from Doggett and from his investigation of Kersh. However, Reyes continued to investigate the death of Carl Wormus with both Doggett and Scully, encountering a suspicious super-soldier named Shannon McMahon, who had killed Carl Wormus and was part of a conspiracy within the US government to hide and develop a secret programme that would prime America's population to breed a generation of super-soldiers by adding a chemical called chloramine to the nation's water supply. Reyes and the other two agents also discovered a Navy ship called the Valor Victor, where the ova of female abductees had been secretly being manipulated for transplantation. Ultimately, however, Shannon McMahon was apparently killed by super-soldier Knowle Rohrer and the Valor Victor was destroyed by a bomb on board the craft that exploded moments after the agents managed to escape. (TXF: "Nothing Important Happened Today II") Monica's fear that the X-Files would be closed and that she would be reassigned to the FBI's New Orleans field office if Doggett did not drop his investigation of Kersh was put to rest exactly two days after the destruction of the Valor Victor, when Doggett handed in a report that mentioned the ship, super-soldiers and Shannon McMahon but did not include any reference to Kersh. (TXF: "Nothing Important Happened Today", "Nothing Important Happened Today II") On the same day, Doggett learned that Kersh had been the anonymous source seen by Reyes near the start of the investigation. (TXF: "Nothing Important Happened Today II", "Nothing Important Happened Today") Reyes subsequently used her expertise regarding claims of demon possession during a murder case she investigated with Doggett and Scully. Shortly after they became involved in the case, Reyes reportedly experienced a strong sense of evil that she couldn't explain and had never felt before. At a mental hospital where the murderer had been employed, Reyes and the other two agents encountered a patient who seemed to know about the murders. Reyes suspected that the patient was in telepathic contact with the killer and she attempted to prove her suspicion. However, the murderer later shot himself to death before Reyes and her colleagues could intervene and the mental patient, who was actually a master manipulator, managed to escape by tricking the agents into believing he had been shot and killed. (TXF: "Dæmonicus") Reyes soon moved into an apartment in a quiet neighborhood of uptown Washington, D.C.. While Doggett was visiting her, Reyes received confusing news that he had been found unconscious after having been shot in an alley fourteen miles away. After discovering that Doggett was no longer in her apartment and that he had indeed been shot, Reyes became extremely puzzled by the incident but was suspected by AD Follmer of having shot Doggett herself. She alone came to the unlikely conclusion that Doggett had been replaced by a nearly identical Doggett, who had been shot and consequently paralyzed moments after having come from a parallel universe. She discovered that the man who had shot Doggett, Irwin Timothy Lukesh, was capable of traveling between universes and had killed her double in the parallel universe. Although she was attacked by Lukesh, who threatened to murder her again, Reyes was saved by AD Follmer, who shot and killed Lukesh. After she turned off Doggett's life-support machine, believing that act would allow the Doggett of her universe to return, Reyes found herself back in her apartment at the time Doggett had been visiting her there. Only Reyes was aware of the events that had since transpired. (TXF: "4-D") During her next investigation, Reyes became panicked when she and Doggett were surrounded by a swarm of flies. Later, she was temporarily trapped in a large webbed sac after unsuccessfully attempting to arrest a boy who represented a biological anomaly as he was neither human nor insect but something between those two. (TXF: "Lord of the Flies") In early 2002, Reyes and Doggett were contacted by a source claiming to have classified military files on the supersoldiers, including the names of each one, but the source was only willing to exclusively provide the information to Mulder, who had been forced into hiding to escape the threat of the supersoldiers. After Reyes and Doggett tracked their anonymous source to an apparently abandoned building, the agents participated in a stakeout that lasted until the next morning, when they followed a man from the building to Scully's apartment. There, Reyes, Scully and Doggett were told by the man that he was a member of the National Security Agency, which had been conducting intense video and audio surveillance on Reyes and her colleagues without their knowledge. Reyes also discovered from the man that both his wife's baby and Scully's young son, William, had both exhibited seemingly telekinetic abilities. Reyes cared for William while Scully continued to investigate the anonymous source, who was actually a supersoldier acting as the NSA agent's superior. However, when Scully's life was later endangered by the supersoldier, Reyes rescued Scully from being shot. (TXF: "Trust No 1") Relationships Family Monica's mother gave birth to her in Mexico. (TXF: "John Doe") Her parents still lived in Mexico City in 2002. When Reyes was believed to have died in that year, her parents began to journey from their hometown to the hospital where she was staying in order to bid her farewell. (TXF: "Audrey Pauley") :It is unclear whether or not Reyes' parents ceased their journey when they learned that she had been revived or if they still visited her. :Monica's parents are the only established members of her family and it is unknown if there are any other members. If so, it is unclear what relation they are to Monica. When asked at what time she discovered numerology in the episode "Improbable", Reyes replies, "We used to do it as kids". It is unclear if she if referring to her childhood friend(s) or possibly even her sibling(s). Romantic Interests Brad Follmer Main article: Brad Follmer Colleagues and Mentors John Doggett Main article: John Doggett In 1997, Monica Reyes worked with John Doggett, at that time a detective in the New York Police Department, in an attempt to find his missing son. (TXF: "Empedocles", "This is Not Happening") They searched together for three days, during which Reyes sensed that Doggett was afraid his son was dead, a fear that was tragically justified when they found his son's deceased body. (TXF: "This is Not Happening") After Reyes had a vision of the body as if it had transformed into ashes, Doggett told her that he had seen the same thing. However, in 2001, Reyes claimed that Doggett had spent the last few years trying to forget what he had seen. In the same year, she admitted that she couldn't begin to imagine what the extremely hard case had been like for him. (TXF: "Empedocles") with Monica Reyes in 2001.]] Doggett contacted Reyes in 2001 in order to get another point of view on a case he was investigating. He was now an FBI agent and believed that Reyes' expertise in religious studies and ritualistic crime might prove useful in the search for several believers in the alien abduction phenomenon. Doggett met with Reyes, explained the case to her and introduced her to others investigating the case - Assistant Director Skinner and Special Agent Scully. During the meeting, Reyes' behaviour with Doggett was nervously playful although she merely offered theories provided seriously to the others. Doggett agreed with her evaluation of the case - that the believers had joined a UFO group - and tried to support her suspicions, although some of her theories differed from Agent Doggett's. (TXF: "This is Not Happening") Dana Scully Main article: Dana Scully Fox Mulder Main article: Fox Mulder Walter Skinner Main article: Walter Skinner Alvin Kersh Main article: Alvin Kersh Smoking Monica Reyes had a habit of smoking Morley brand cigarettes. In 2001, after extinguishing a cigarette she had been smoking, Reyes commented that smoking wasn't "very FBI" of her and claimed that she was trying to quit. That night, she was about to smoke another cigarette but, before she could light it, she was interrupted by the shock of seeing a UFO. (TXF: "This is Not Happening") Reyes later attempted to quit smoking with the help of nicotine gum, but she struggled with unwrapping at least one piece. Before investigating a crime scene, she removed gum that she had been chewing and dropped it into a wastebasket. She later tried another piece of gum as she headed away from the crime scene. (TXF: "Empedocles") Before helping with the birth of Scully's son in Democrat Hot Springs, Reyes went outside at night to smoke another cigarette that she extinguished while viewing another UFO in the darkened sky. (TXF: "Existence") :Obviously, the gum didn't help her quit between the events of "Empedocles" and those seen in "Existence". The cigarette she smokes in "Existence" would be her last in the series. Other Lives , Monica Reyes suffered a bloody and horrific death.]] In 2001 of a parallel universe, Agent Monica Reyes volunteered to be involved in a stakeout with her partner, Agent Doggett. The operation was intended to determine whether a suspect was actually murderer Irwin Timothy Lukesh, who commonly killed women victims and was known for his impossible escapes. In an apartment building, Reyes pretended to work on repairing an upturned bicycle while Doggett and Brad Follmer monitored her progress from a hidden location. However, after the suspect, who was indeed Lukesh, entered the building, he recognized that he was under surveillance and left the room where Reyes was stationed. Although Agent Doggett advised her not to, Reyes followed the suspect with encouragement from their superior, Brad Follmer. Moments after Reyes reported that she had lost sight of the suspect, Lukesh ambushed her, cutting her throat and obtaining her gun. Doggett and Follmer rushed to help her but Lukesh had gone by the time they arrived. Follmer stayed with Agent Reyes while Doggett ran after Lukesh. Although Follmer sent for medical assistance, Reyes died moments later. Follmer cradled her lifeless head in his bare hands. (TXF: "4-D") :The closeness implied by Follmer holding Reyes' head might indicate that their relationship is more than professional, as it was in the reality most commonly seen on ''The X-Files.'' Later in 2001, "our" universe's Reyes came to believe that her soul had been reincarnated several times and that, each time, she had unsuccessfully attempted to stop a series of murders in which each of four victims had been skinned alive. The murders had individually occurred in 1868, 1909 and 1960. (TXF: "Hellbound") Background Information Character Creation Due to their decision to continue The X-Files television series and try to appeal to a new generation of viewers, the production personnel knew, from the beginning of Season 8, that they were going to introduce another female character who would be a believer, as Mulder had been a believer. However, the writers wanted a different kind of believer character to work off of the skeptical nature of Doggett, who had already been established. The writers were required to create a character who was unlike any of the preconcieved main characters that were a part of the series. Ultimately, the writers imagined a character who seemed open to beliefs and had a big heart. This female character, eventually named Monica Reyes, was considered by some to be like Mulder in her optimism, faith and enjoyment of being open to beliefs but considered by others as being quite different from Mulder as she was more spiritual and subscribed to a more New Age-like view than he did. Reyes was seen as different from both Mulder and the other main characters as she was somewhat more neurotic, scattered, and quirky. She smiled and laughed more than the other characters, having a nature that could be considered lighter, sunnier, brighter, warmer and more overtly sexy. Some also considered her to be more sensitive than the average person. Character Facets According to creator and writer Chris Carter, the inspiration for Reyes imitating whale song in the episode "Existence" came from a Paul Winter album he had been given when he was a boy. The album had whale sounds incorporated into the music, which Chris Carter often thought was interesting and, although perhaps kooky, he believed it was much like the character of Reyes to appreciate similar whale sounds. The character of Brad Follmer was created in Season 9 to provide a love interest for Reyes, as the writers believed the audience needed to know more about her. However, Follmer's unresolved relationship with Reyes also served to heighten the conflict between Doggett and Follmer, as both men had feelings for her. Actress Annabeth Gish was pleased that the relationship between her character and Scully was similar to that of two sisters, rather than Reyes serving as an antagonist to Scully. In her four individual appearances within Season 8, Reyes smoked Morley cigarettes, the same brand that the Cigarette Smoking Man enjoyed in earlier episodes of the series. Actress Annabeth Gish was informed of this fact during the series' run. The Season 9 episode "Hellbound", in which Reyes discovers that she was apparently reincarnated, began as an effort to give Reyes or Doggett a drive, as they were seen, by at least some writers, as the successors to Mulder and Scully. According to the writer of the episode, David Amann, executive producer Frank Spotnitz was interested in giving Reyes some darkness to play and her past life was consequently written with extremely sombre and terrible overtunes. Casting Monica Reyes According to Frank Spotnitz, a lot of actresses wanted to play the role of Monica Reyes. Annabeth Gish had no doubts about taking the opportunity to play the new female agent character on The X-Files and fought for the role until she was chosen. The actress played Monica Reyes in all of the character's appearances on The X-Files. The first scene in she appeared was filmed early in the morning and outside. She was not yet familiar with anyone working with her and was slightly nervous. One of the first things she was tasked with doing was to run down a steep hill, shouting, "Stop there! I'm a federal agent." Gish later remarked that filming the scene had been very memorable, as it did not take place during the day, and quite exciting. Because Gish became a member of the series' main cast in Season 9 of The X-Files, she was also added to the opening credits for that season. Advertising First Appearances The X-Files used promotional footage, called a "promo", to advertise each episode. Two different versions of the promo for each episode was created and televised - a ten minute version, and a twenty minute version. Although Monica Reyes first appeared in the episode "This is Not Happening", she did not appear in either of the promos for that episode. In fact, the character would not be seen in any of the promos until those used to advertise her next appearance, "Empedocles", both of which included a clip of Reyes exclaiming, "There's something here." As with the promo for "This is Not Happening", Reyes was again not featured in the promo for her next appearance, "Essence". In the twenty minute version of the promo for "Existence", the final episode of Season 8, Reyes appeared several times and could be heard saying, "There's someone out there," off-screen. In contrast, she only appeared once in the ten minute promo for "Existence" and none of her dialogue from that episode was used. As Reyes became a regular character in Season 9, her appearances in the promos became much more frequent. Deleted Scenes & Concepts In script sources used to film "The Truth", the series' final episode, the character's middle name was given as "Julietta". However, this fact was never established in the actual episode itself, nor in any other episode of the series. Trivia On The X-Files Season 8 DVD, "Monica Reyes" is also the title of the specific chapter in "This is Not Happening" in which the character first appears. ''The X-Files'' Mythology, Volume 4 - Super Soldiers is the only DVD in The X-Files Mythology series that includes any episodes featuring Monica Reyes. Appearances * The X-Files ** "This is Not Happening" ** "Empedocles" ** "Essence" ** "Existence" ** all of Season 9 Reyes, Monica